New 'state of the art' Wallasey school to cost £65m

Wirral Council successfully applied to the Department for Education (DfE) for funding to rebuild Mosslands High School in Wallasey due to its “very poor condition.” The redevelopment of the school will see the new building take up part of Wallacre playing field which sits south east of the school’s current location.

This is because building the new school within its current location would mean a temporary school on Wallacre would stop community access to a popular walking route for 40 months.

The scheme “will provide a modern state of the art secondary education flagship facility within the heart of Wallasey” and around £65m is expected to be funded by the Department for Education for the new facility. The new school is expected to open in 2026.

In order to move the scheme forward, Wirral Council is expected to approve next week an extra £3.4m to support the development. The £3m is needed to bring waterlogged sports pitches back into use as well as improve facilities for sports in the area.

A report before a policy and resources committee meeting scheduled for February 19 said: “The appropriated area of Wallacre was necessitated to provide sufficient external area to allow the new build school construction, whilst maintaining the uninterrupted education provision to be maintained within the existing school on the existing site (without the need for an offsite temporary mobile school provision), until the full decant into the new flagship school in 2026.

“Following which the onsite demolition of the existing school buildings, temporary car parking re-location to the Northern part of the existing site, removal of the external open spaces and play provisions will commence in late 2026. Should approval to the funding not be granted, the DfE would need to reconsider its options in support of the overall scheme.”

Plans to create car parking off Cross Lane to go along with “a fully usable open space area for multiple sports provisions” previously came under criticism by councillors on December 11. This is because the area was labelled community green space under the council’s draft local plan following a petition signed by 2,740 people.

Wallasey councillor Ian Lewis said the report was “quite sloppy” and “the basics were wrong” including failing to mention the Cross Lane land was protected green space under the draft policy. He also said local councillors had not been told about plans off Cross Lane before the meeting.

Cllr Lewis said the new school plans were fantastic and the new school was long overdue but felt there were too many errors in the report, adding: “People nowhere near the school are now faced with the prospect of a car park that they haven’t been consulted about or made aware of.”

Similar concerns were raised by other councillors, with deputy leader, Cllr Jean Robinson, wanting assurances as the council’s draft Local Plan is under review. Councillors decided any changes that could affect the draft Local Plan will be reviewed by leading councillors as well as all three Wallasey councillors in light of the concerns.

Riverside Primary School was also awarded funding in 2022.